Escape
by nobodD
Summary: When there's nothing left for you here, maybe it's time to move on and start anew. Experimental one-shot. Somewhat HonoYukiAri, hinted HonoAri. [5/13] Chapter 2 is only author response, not an actual chapter
1. Chapter 1

***Disclaimer: I do NOT own Love Live!**

* * *

 _Who could possibly be visiting me?_ the young woman thought as she made her way to the front door of her apartment. Once there, she pulled the door open, immediately recognizing the ash-blond and bluenette pair at the door.

"Hello, Honoka," Umi greeted.

"Hi, Honoka-chan!" came Kotori's more cheerful greeting.

"Hi Kotori-chan, Umi-chan," Honoka returned simply.

Kotori picked up on the lack of energy instantly. "Are you okay?"

"Mmm… Yeah… Just a little tired."

"Oh, I see."

"I'm not really prepared to accept guests, but you're welcome to come in if you'd like."

"Actually, we came by to see if you wanted to come out with us," Umi said.

"Yeah, we're all going to the movies," Kotori chimed in.

"Sounds fun, but I think I should stay home and rest," Honoka replied. "Sorry."

"Oh…" Kotori was a little down. "Well, maybe next time then."

"Yeah, next time. Goodbye."

Kotori and Umi barely managed to fit in their goodbyes before Honoka closed the door. Through the door she heard the two wish she feels better soon before they left. Honoka could imagine the two of them holding hands (which they were), which brought out a sigh.

She was too lost in thought to notice the footsteps approaching her. She wasn't aware of anything until a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her stomach. She smiled herself out of those sad thoughts and placed her hands on top of the two.

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" the girl asked.

"I didn't forgive them five years ago, and even if they aren't even aware of their betrayal, I still won't forgive them now," was Honoka's response.

"Okay. You know I won't betray you like they did."

Honoka turned to face her. "I know. I know I'll always be able to count on you, Yukiho-chan."

The younger Kousaka placed her hands on her sister's shoulders, raising herself on her toes. Honoka wrapped her arms around Yukiho, pulling the younger sister in and helping her to close the distance between their lips. As they were about to meet, Yukiho pressed forward and pinned Honoka against the door. Finally their lips met.

Then all together in a practiced series of actions, she let herself drop. Her hands fell from her sister's shoulders, grazing the older girl's breasts as they slid the length of her body to her waist before finally sliding to the back, completing her hold. At the same time, she pressed the upper part of her body to Honoka's, her head falling to rest just above the chest as she came back onto her heels.

She knew her sister's pain, knew that words alone wouldn't be enough anymore. So Yukiho wanted to show her what she meant. The muffled sound through lips, coupled with the tightening embrace around her, told Yukiho that Honoka understood and accepted it.

The kiss didn't last much longer. Yukiho rested her head on her sister, both savoring the comforting warmth from each other. Silence lasted a couple more seconds before Honoka decided to speak up.

"The mail came a little while ago, didn't it?"

She felt her sister nod. "My final paycheck came in."

"Good. That means we can finally leave this place."

"Whenever you want to, just say so. I'll pack the last of our things and we'll leave."

Without hesitation, Honoka answered.

"Tonight."

* * *

The Kousaka siblings walked into the train station hand in hand, fingers intertwined. It was nearly midnight, and the station was unsurprisingly empty as a result. All according to plan for the siblings, they will get to leave without a trace.

They reached the platform they wanted. Their train was still a few minutes from arriving, so they sat on one of the benches. Yukiho just barely set her bag down before a pair of arms wrapped around her. She didn't protest, instead leaning back as much as she could into her sister's warmth to fight off the freezing winter air.

As she hugged her sister tightly, Honoka glanced around the station. It wouldn't be just the two of them tonight. There was one more which made up their loving trio, another young beauty. Before she could search the rest of the platform, a pair of arms wrapped around her upper body, and she felt a head rest on her shoulder, hair falling forward.

"Looking for someone?" the newcomer asked.

"Oh, no one in particular," Honoka responded, learning her head back.

Yukiho shifted upon hearing the new voice. "Arisa!"

Arisa let go of Honoka, and Honoka let go of Yukiho. Once they were untangled, Arisa and Yukiho gave each other a tight hug. Arisa managed a quick peck on Yukiho's cheek before they separated from their hug.

"Sorry for being late," Arisa said. "Onee-san came home from the movies early with Maki, so it was a little harder to sneak out."

"It's okay. You still made it, and that's all that matters now," Honoka said, smiling.

"Just in time, too," Yukiho said.

As if on cue, they heard the distinct sound of the train coming down the tracks. The three of the picked up their bags, and hurried inside once the train had stopped and the doors had opened. As they were settling into their seats, Honoka looked around. She found no one else in the car. It was only them.

" _Perfect. Some much needed privacy."_

She turned back to her two younger companions. They had each taken a spot on the bench, space between the two, and looked expectantly at her. Honoka smiled slightly, not at all surprised. The moment she took her spot between them, both girls slid as close as they could, resting on either side of Honoka.

There were no words, nothing to be said. The only sounds to be heard were from the train as it left the station and went on its way. For a while silence filled their air, the three of them content to the comfort of each other.

When the silence was finally broken, it wasn't from someone speaking up. Yukiho's head slid from Honoka's shoulder, favoring her lap as a pillow instead. The other two looked down at the younger Kousaka, smiles on their faces.

"Always the first asleep," Arisa commented, reaching over and brushing a few strands of hair from Yukiho's face.

Honoka chuckled softly. "Yeah… Though, the last few weeks have been pretty hard on her."

"Speaking of… How have you been handling everything lately?"

"Well, I'm still alive. So I guess that means I've been fine enough to keep going."

"I see…" Arisa snuck her arm under Honoka's so that she could hug the older girl's arm tightly. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing for you to be apologizing for."

"But-"

Before Arisa could protest, Honoka silenced her with a finger.

"What happened to my parents wasn't your fault. You didn't decide to disband Muse, or choose the others over me. None of it was your fault, so there's nothing for you to apologize for, alright?"

"I know, but-"

Once more Arisa was interrupted, this time by Honoka's lips capturing her own. She didn't hesitate, she reciprocated the kiss immediately. Anything she would have said disappeared in an instant as she lost herself in the wonderful sensation she had been deprived of recently. Though, she would be disappointed as Honoka ended the kiss only seconds later.

"You didn't do anything wrong to me, so stop apologizing, alright?"

"…Okay…"

"Good, now smile. We have our new life together to look forward to."

"I kind of wish it was just the two of us, though…"

"You know I couldn't leave her behind. Not after losing our parents."

Arisa sighed. "I know."

"Don't worry. She only needs a little bit of attention. You can be as selfish as you want after that."

"How about right now?"

Honoka couldn't help but smile. "Just don't make too much noise."

* * *

Despite the time of year, the early morning sun shined brightly through the window. Eventually it became too much, forcing one Ayase Eli to awaken from her slumber. A smile touched her face as the first image she was greeted with was of Maki's sleeping face while cuddled against her.

Carefully the blond beauty untangled herself from her redhead lover and got out of bed. She grabbed her phone and made her way out of the room. She walked down the hallway, planning on making breakfast this morning. But as she passed by her sister's room, she stopped dead in her tracks. Looking in, she saw that the bed was untouched.

Curiously, she wandered into the room. A closer inspection of the bed showed that it hadn't even been slept in last night. Eli glanced around the room. There were things here and there that she knew her sister had that were now missing as well.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her phone started ringing. She answered immediately upon recognizing the caller ID.

"Umi?" she answered.

" _Eli? Have you talked to Honoka recently?"_ she heard the bluenette ask on the other end.

"Honoka? No, why?"

" _She's gone."_

"…What do you mean by _gone_?"

" _We came by her apartment to see if she wanted to come with us for lunch later. But when we got here, the owner said that she had left last night. No one knows where she could have gone to."_

"I see… So Honoka's missing too…"

" _Hmm? What do you mean?"_

"I just came into Arisa's room. Her bed wasn't slept in last night, as if Arisa wasn't even here. Some of her belongings are missing, too."

There was a small pause. _"You don't think…"_

"I don't know, Umi. But I'm starting to get a bad idea about this."

"Eli?" came Maki's voice.

Eli turned around to see Maki standing at the door.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Umi. Apparently Honoka's gone missing."

"Really? Then… you might want to see this."

Maki entered the room and walked up to Eli. She turned the phone in her hand to the blond, letting her read the message that was currently open on screen.

 _From: Nozomi_

 _Someone from the shrine told me they saw someone who looked like Honoka enter the old train station late last night. Have you heard from Honoka lately?_

"Umi, I'll call you back," Eli said before hanging up the phone.

She quickly dialed in Honoka's number and hit _call_. The phone didn't even ring before a recorded message said that the number had been disconnected. She tried Arisa's number next, hitting the call button.

She heard a familiar ringtone start playing in the room, and her heart nearly dropped. Both she and Maki turned to the source, Arisa's phone sitting alone on her desk.

"No…"

* * *

 **Hey everyone, nobodD here!**

 **Well this oneshot is… different? I hope? Haha**

 **So here's the thing. Looking back at my stories, most of it is mainly fluffy writing. I've been wanting for a little while now to try expanding the different styles I can write. This oneshot is kind of an experiment to see if I can write something a little more dramatic. For reviews, please let me know how you think I did.**

 **As for the trio picked, well it kind of stems from my story** _ **The Center of Muse**_ **. I did a playful chapter of Yukiho and Arisa dragging Honoka to the mall. I felt like using this trio for a story like this would work well. That and I don't think this trio has been tried in a story before, but I could be wrong about that. And of course, I enjoy trying to write for uncommon shippings X3**

 **That's really it for me. See you next time~**


	2. Author Update

**Hey guys, nobodD here, again! Just for a quick update though~**

 **So, this got quite a lot more attention and comments than I thought it would. I don't usually do this, but I feel this should be a special exception. Anyway, I'm going to share with you some of my thoughts and explain a couple things.**

 **Firstly… Whoaa…. Really, I was not expecting this to get much attention at all. More or less because of the trio I decided to go with, but also because of how different this story is… conceptually.**

 **As mentioned, this story was only intended to be a one-shot. It was largely inspired by something I read a couple weeks ago, combined with my mood at the time of reading it. I won't bore you too much, just that I was in a pretty bad state of mind at the time, and reading that story was a bit too relatable to my mood at the time.**

 ***claps hands* Anyway, enough of the sad stuff! The main reason I made this only a one-shot is because… Well, look at it. It's not very well thought out to begin with. It's honestly a mess, and I don't have anything thought out further anyway. As much as I'd like to adhere to all your requests to extend this story, there really isn't anywhere else for me to take it.**

 **Of course, it also sounds like some of you might have ideas of how the story goes beyond this one-shot. I welcome anyone to go ahead and continue it if they'd like. This was only meant for me to experiment, and I'm more or less done with it now. I don't think people will take it up, judging how my last attempt at giving away a prompt went, but hey, just putting it out there X3**

 **Like I mentioned, I know this story is a mess. It's pretty confusing. So for people who want to take this story on, or just want to understand everything, I'll summarize it here:**

 **\- Honoka's parents died in an accident. Time-wise this event is intended during Yukiho's high school years, and either Honoka's 3rd year or after graduation for her. As a result, the two siblings live in an apartment together. What was failed to be mentioned is that for a few years, they both worked to support each other and pay rent, with Honoka being laid off the last few months before this story. That's why they wait on one last paycheck for Yukiho before they're able to make their move.**

 **\- As hinted, the other eight members are dating each other. Though, that itself isn't the betrayal. Again referring to timeline, the others would have started dating by Eli, Nico, and Nozomi's graduation, occurring before the accident with Honoka's parents. Something poorly hinted through dialogue between Honoka and Arisa, was that the others weren't there to support Honoka while she was going through this. They "choose each other," though not intentionally, which is why they aren't aware how hurt Honoka feels. Honoka's line "I'm still alive," well… you can guess what she would have tried had Arisa not been there for the Kousaka sisters.**

 **\- I messed up portraying the trio's dynamic pretty badly, which is really only my fault for how I did the dialogue on the train. Arisa is both supposed to be support for the sisters, but also a bit selfish. The story is supposed to be established HonoAri, but I realized I forgot to include that while trying to fit in the backstory. After the accident, Honoka of course wants to look after Yukiho herself, caring for her in the place of their parents. Arisa understands this, but as she knows they already share a close bond as sisters, isn't as welcome to sharing as it seems. She acts almost lovingly to Yukiho, but goes after Honoka whenever she gets the chance. Honoka knows this, and the ending scene on the train is supposed to show Honoka trying to appeal to Arisa's feelings while still being considerate to Yukiho. That's also why I say the story is somewhat HonoYukiAri, but not fully.**

 **Well, hopefully that clarifies a lot. Like I said, I won't be extending this story or anything, I just felt an update was in order given how… inexcusable this piece was. I'm glad people liked the attempt, so I will definitely try to write more dramatic stories in the future. This was an experiment, and I'm thinking it was a successful one.**

 **Hope to see you next time~**


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